Controlled Chaos
by Sydney33
Summary: Brooke was sure she was going to die in that hotel room in downtown Atlanta. That was until Rick Grimes trotted by on his horse and saved her life. Full summary inside. Story starts from episode one. Rick x OC. Slow burn.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Or no one, not sure if anyone will even read this!**

 **I'm in love with the walking dead and wish Rick Grimes had a different love interest. I think he could really benefit from a caring honest person. This is not a Lori hate story I just feel like Lori would work better with Shane after this whole thing started.**

 **This is my take on an OC from Boston who was in Atlanta for a training convention when the outbreak started. This story starts right from episode one and will follow the whole story so far. I will probably jump around a bit to important parts of the story but I haven't really figured that out yet.**

 **I'm taking a little artistic license here and imagining that Lori fell in love with Shane when they started sleeping together and now she's fallen out of love for Rick. That's really the only way I feel like I could stay true to the characters. Rick is very loyal and I can't picture him having feelings for anyone else while he and Lori were together. This is going to be a very slow burn here and most likely will have some explicit scenes later on in the story. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors! Any constructive criticism is appreciated but please no flames! I do not own any of these characters or the walking dead except for my OC Brooke.**

 **Chapter one:** Officer Friendly

Should I just do it? It would be the easy way out. I could just take control of this horrible nightmare. I mean,to be honest I truly had no idea how much longer I could survive like this. By myself, trapped in a hotel room with a barricaded door. Eventually those things out there would get to me. And maybe I'm a coward but I'd rather die any other way than let them tear me apart like they did Danielle and most likely Victor too. I could still see it and hear it and feel the blood every time I closed my eyes. I was still cleaning the blood from under my finger nails. It just won't seem to come off.

I weighed the small hand gun in my hand, shifting if back and forth. I'd never even held a gun before all this, never mind shoot one. And this was the only one small enough I could find on someone that I felt comfortable to handle.  
I raised the gun to my temple and held it there for a moment. I closed my eyes, finger hovering over the trigger. I winced just as I almost pulled. A sickening feeling over came me. _Ok I can't do this. It's only been a few weeks,_ I rationalized. Has it really been that long? God I don't even know how long it's been. Maybe a month? Well that's if I'm counting back from when this all officially started. When the power went out and people went crazy and they started dropping bombs in the streets.

I personally hadn't seen my family or my home for definitely over a month now, it could even be close to two at this point. When Danielle, Victor and I left for Atlanta out of Boston I had been anxious. Something hadn't felt right. Maybe it was just that I wasn't the hugest fans of them and I was not looking forward to spending the next two weeks with them at training sessions and sharing hotel rooms. Or maybe I'm psychic and I was having some premature apocalyptic feelings? Yea, that's probably not it but who's even here to judge me. Certainly not anyone I've seen in the past few days.

Ok so I'd decided I wasn't going to kill myself. I mean there's got to be some form of help coming soon right? This can't be like the real deal end of the world. That's movie quality stuff right there. I definitely am getting a little loopy from hunger and isolation so maybe that's where the suicidal thoughts are coming from. But in my defense this is probably the worst thing that's happened to anyone I know, given that New England hasn't been affected by this whole thing. I'm going to stick with assuming that's true. No sense in worrying to much about mom and dad and my sister,my niece and my friends when I have zero way of reaching them right now. _Help will come. I just have to wait it out a little longer._

I looked around the ransacked hotel room and tried to figure out what to do with my time. I really should try and find more food. There's no way I'll survive to even receive help if I don't get more food.  
I hadn't heard any moaning or scratching out in the hall for awhile now , I guess I'll count that as a plus. I bet if any of the other rooms are open I could find some chips or cookies or something. Anything sounds good right now.

Shifting up from my spot on the floor by the window, I stood and stretched. All my bones felt like jello as each joint popped. A combination of sitting from prolonged periods of time and the soreness of running for my life recently I'm sure.

I winced as my pants rubbed against the slowly healing gash in my calf. I reached down, rolling up the pant leg to look at the damage. I bit my lip as a flash of how I received this particular wound went through my mind. Victor had already gotten himself into trouble by trying to break up a fight and we lost him in the crowd by the time Danielle and I were trying to run up the stairs. I wanted to go back for him but Danielle was already pulling me through the back stairwell. She was a bit heavier than me and much slower. I didn't even realize before it was too late. I'll never forget the noise of one of them grabbing her. That awful noise she made when it ripped into her neck. I had been in such shock, covered in blood from the spray of the initial bite, that I didn't run quite in time. I stumbled backwards on the stairs when the same dead thing lurched at me while I tried to get away. It had grabbed my pant leg and I had to pull so hard to get out of its grip that my calf slammed and ripped up a jagged edge of the stair below me.

Having not been a very athletic or physical person in the past I will say that, that was one of the most painful experiences I've ever had. Looking back on it now I don't really know how I got out of that situation alive. I just shut off the pain and ran all the way up those stairs and into this hotel room on pure adrenalin I suppose.

By the time I realized I was trapped in here I could hear the bombs and feel the shaking they caused through the whole city. I was certain one of those bombs was going hit this hotel and that would be how I died. But it never happened.

And here I am, smearing what little bit of Neosporin left on a cut that needs much deeper medical attention than over the counter antibacterial cream, and getting ready to brave what's out in the hall. Once I've finished coating the cut on my calf I stand up straight and pick up the gun I had placed on the counter. I was about two steps away from the door when I heard the voice.

The first real voice I had heard in days, weeks, maybe even a month. I bolted to the cracked open window where I had just been sitting and peered outside.

I'm hallucinating. That's it, I've gone mentally insane. How else would you explain a guy in a full southern small town sheriff's outfit riding a horse through the streets of a war torn Atlanta? The guy didn't even look scared for god sake that voice I heard was him talking to his freaking horse!

"Woah! Steady, it's just a few nothing we can't out run" He said to the mare he was riding as two of the dead ones tumbled out of a charred bus after them. I shifted for a second and then paused. So this was real, and this is the first person I'm seeing for awhile. It's normal to be freaked out. But he's a cop so that's a good start! I knew help would come.

I needed to figure out how to get his attention without putting him or myself in huge danger. The streets were so quiet at this point I could easily hear the horse trotting along from 6 stories up. So if I called to him the freaks out down there and up here would take notice which would be bad news for both of us. But I definitely did not have enough time to get down there without him being long gone by the time I got outside or me dying in the process. I have no clue what the route down stairs is even like at this point and I am not excited to see that at all.

But irregardless I have to get his attention some how. If I don't get help I am going to die for sure up here. I can't do this on my own.

Thinking fast on my options I turned my back on the window for a split second to grab a shard of the mirror that had broken in the bathroom. I scuttled back to the window and as quietly as possible pushed it all the way open. I shifted back and forth trying to get the best angle on the sun that was beaming down on the street. If I could just get the reflecting light in his sight line he would have to look up and see me in the window for sure.

I was just about to give up and call out to him as he passed one of the abandoned tanks when he stopped his horse. I could see him squinting under the brim of his hat at the spot of light I was erratically moving back and forth along the ground in front of him. His eyes lifted following the trace of where it was coming from. I just about dropped the shard of mirror when his gaze got close enough as I waved my arms like a mad woman as silently as I could.

His eyes widened like saucers and he almost jumped off his horse. He was just about to open his mouth when I put my finger in front of mine shushing him and shaking my head vigorously from side to side. He paused and pondered this for a second and mouthed " _come down here_!" To me while motioning and pointing to the street level.

I tried mouthing I was trapped back to him but he clearly couldn't understand me. I raised my finger as if to say 1 second while I bolted away from the window to grab the pen and note pad on the desk where the hotel stationary is.

I wrote "I'm trapped, dead outside my door" in as big and dark of letters as I could before turning the note pad so he could see. He looked at the note and turned to survey the street for a moment before quietly mouthing and whispering to me he was coming up there. "What room number?" He mouthed. I scribbled 6027 on the note pad and showed it to him. He raised his hand as if to say 1 minute to me and turned the horse to go forward around the next corner where the entrance to the hotel was. The horse turned to a gallop as it rounded the corner out of sight. I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when I head the horse shriek and neigh and a loud chorus of growls and moans started.

My heart stopped in my chest. I looked out the window as the cop and the horse galloped back past the window and an enormous herd of the dead followed.  
 _No, no, no, no!_ I just killed this poor man! There's no way he's making it out of this one. Pure unadulterated guilt washed over me in waves. Tears welled up in my eyes and I wracked my brain on anything I could possibly do to save this mans life who had so selflessly put himself in danger to try and save mine.

He halted at the end of the block where the dead cornered him and started ripping at the horse he was on. Before I could even blink they had pulled him off the horse and yanked the horse down to the street where they started devouring it. I covered my ears to block to sickening noise of them eating.

The cop kicked one of them away from him and tried to reach for a large bag of what looked like guns but it was too late. He shifted and lurched under the tank that was next to him. I said a quick prayer hoping that would be enough to save him before I saw the dead reaching after him under there and gun shots rang in the air drawing even more of them from all around.

I held my breath waiting for the screams of pain or more gun shots or worse the sound of them eating again but I heard none of that. What I did hear was what sounded like a gun shot coming from inside the tank. Maybe, just maybe he got inside unscathed? But why would he shoot something. I hoped to god he was ok and he didn't shoot himself in there.

It felt like an hour before I watched him pop up from the top hole in the tank and look at the bag of guns on the pavement. The dead were crawling all over the tank before he could get a good look and he had to shut the top hatch. I left go of a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding.

Wow, that son of a bitch was _tough_! I can't even believe he made it out of that like this.

I tired my hardest to not pay attention to the horrible scene of the horse being consumed just beside where this super hero cop was trapped in the tank crawling with the walking dead. Thanking every god I could think of I turned away from the window and tried to devise a plan to get that selfless cop out of there alive.

...

As I was anxiously trying to devise a way I could maybe make a distraction for the cop in the tank, the genius decided to pop up and try and make a run for it!

Ramming one of those things in the head with a shovel and leaping from the inside of the tank he glanced up and at me. "What are you _DOING_?!" I yelled to him before I could help myself. That was going to come back to bite me. The things outside my door most likely wouldn't stay that way for long now.

"I'm making a run for it, there's a guy on the radio around the corner. I'm going to meet him there." He said between shots and swipes of his shovel and he made his way down the side of the tank and onto the ground below. "You hold tight I will come get you, I _promise_ that" he said in a convicted tone, his southern twang making it sound so much more genuine. I nodded anxiously as he disappeared around the corner.

Turning away from the window I sucked in a jagged breath and pulled my knees to my chest. "It's gonna be ok, officer friendly is gonna come get you." I whispered to myself. But I couldn't hide the feeling of dread in my gut. This cop could only get so lucky so many times. The odds of him dying trying to get to me or him just leaving me here to die where way to high for my liking.

I paced back and forth in the hotel room for what was probably 20 minutes but what really seemed like days until I heard a knock on the hotel room door.

I froze, my feet completely locking to the dirty hotel carpeting.

"Hey it's me, the guy from the street. Open the door please, I'd prefer to not have to kick it down." The cops southern voice said from behind the door. " _Come on now_ , don't make me barge in there and cause all that noise. I'm not leaving you here, not after all that" He said after a moment of me not answering. "Rick, she's not in there. Maybe she told you the wrong room number." Another guy's voice I didn't recognize said.  
" _She's in there._ " The cop allegedly named Rick replied.

I gulped, snapping out of my daze. "I'm here, sorry I'm coming!" I called back out to them. I ran over to the door and started shoving the sofa I pushed up against the door out of the way. I was a lot less starving when I first put it there so this proved to be difficult. I finally managed to move it out of the way enough to crack open the door.

The cop stood there anxiously waiting as I slid through the open crack and the door closed behind me. The man next to him was someone I'd never seen before. He was shorter than the cop, a little younger than me maybe and Asian, he wore a baseball cap and he had a back pack with him, that he toyed with the strap of as he looked at me concerned.

"My name is Rick, and this here is Glenn. He saved both of our lives just now." The cop now officially known as Rick said motioning to the Asian boy.

Glenn shifted from foot to foot and looked away sheepishly. "It's not really that big of a deal, I wasn't going to let any innocent person die" he scoffed. "My name is Brooke" I choked out, almost in tears. "Thank you both _so much_ , I could never repay you" I almost whispered to them looking at the floor.

"There's enough of the dead out there now we don't need to add to them. Us living have to look out for each other." Rick replied in a calm voice. The corner of my lips twitched up in a smile as I looked up at him. I could literally kiss this man. Talk about chivalry! He is also quite handsome to be honest. Not that that matters, I thought as I noticed the wedding ring on his finger.

"Wait, how did you guys even get in here with all of them down there?" I asked, finally realizing how impossible that would have been. Rick half smiled and chuckled a little, throwing a sideways look to Glenn. "Well, you see, it wasn't easy but, Glenn here knew of a back way to get into the building. That part was fine it was once we got in that was the hard part. We've mostly cleared the way from here to the exit but we gotta get moving. It won't stay that way for long." He said gesturing us both back down the hall way. It didn't take me anymore convincing to get going that's for sure.  
We made our way down the destroyed hallway to the entrance of the staircase. Luckily Glenn has a large flashlight in that pack of his because the stairway was completely pitch black. We made our way down slowly, so not to make much noise in the process.

"We just have to get to the main floor and its across the lobby and around the corner." Glenn whispered to me as we crept down the stairs. I nodded in understanding and kept moving. "Glenn has a group with him at the department store across the back alley. They're trying to find a way to get us all out here safely. I made quite the commotion trying to escape those walkers on the street. There's a whole herd of them trying to get into this area." Rick whispered hurriedly as we made it to the bottom floor. A whole other group of people?! This was getting overwhelming. I never thought I'd see one face again never mind multiples.

Before I had time to even process this whole ordeal, we rushed across the lobby of the hotel and out the back hallway into what looked like a loading dock area. Glenn ran ahead of Rick and I to open a door diagonal from where we stood. We followed into the dark entrance and he shut and bolted the door behind us.

There were quite a few people standing in the room waiting for us. "Alright now that we've finished the _rescue mission_ we need to figure out what we are going to do!" A harsh faced blonde woman spat. The black man next to her rolled his eyes. "Andrea calm down we'll figure this out!" He said back. She whipped around to face him. "Are you _KIDDING_ me T?! How am I supposed to ca-"  
Right as she was ranting three gun shots rang from somewhere above us.

Everyone paused for a moment before panic ensued. "Oh no was that Dixon?!" She whined, clearly very annoyed. "Come on let's go!" Glenn said anxiously rushing us along. Everyone rushed towards the staircase at the back of the building and Rick and I shared a concerned and confused look before following, not really knowing what else to do.

One of the guys I hadn't officially met yet burst through the door at the top of the stairs that led to the roof and yelled "Hey Dixon! Are you _crazy_?!"

When I rounded the corner and saw the man, Dixon, standing on the edge of the roof I was surprised. He looked like some white trash biker red neck standing with some rifle unloading onto the street below.

Dixon chuckled and turned back to us. "Hey, you oughta be more polite to a man with a gun. _Huh_?" He drawled jumping down from the roof ledge. "S only common sense!"

"Man you wasting bullets we ain't even got man! And you bring em all down here on our ass man!" T yelled back waving his arms at Dixon.

"Hey bad enough I got this taco bender on my ass all day, now I'm gonna take orders from you." Dixon exclaimed gesturing to T and the Spanish looking guy who first yelled at Dixon. "I don't think so...bro. _That'll be the day._ " Dixon spat back in T's face.

T looked appalled. "That'll be the day?! You got something to tell me!"

"Hey T-dog man just leave it!" The Spanish guy said.

"No!" T snapped back holding his hands up to him and looking back at Dixon as the other guy said "It ain't worth it! Huh Merle, just relax. Ok? We got enough trouble."

Rick, Glenn and I exchanged anxious glances as this started to get worse. T and Dixon faced each other. "You wanna know the day?" Dixon scoffed. "Yea man!" T dog barked, angrily.  
"I'll tell ya the day Mr. _Yo_!" Dixon mocked a gansta move at T. "That's the day I take orders from a _nigger_." Dixon finished nonchalantly before T jumped on him. "You motha fucka!" T snapped as he lunged at Dixon, but Dixon smacked him the face with his gun.  
Rick and the Spanish guy went forward to break up the fight and Dixon turned around and sucked punched both of them in the face. I gasped and lurched forward, catching Rick before he hit the ground. Rick grunted, rubbing his jaw. " _You ok_?!" I whispered anxiously. "Yea, I'm..." He trailed off looking up at Dixon still attacking T, the woman Andrea was screaming and begging Dixon to stop along with another black woman that was there. Glenn and the Spanish guy tried following the fight, yelling things at Dixon, anything to make him stop.

I helped Rick up as we watched Dixon slam T into the ground and pull a smaller hand gun on him, pointing it right in his face. Rick put his hand on my shoulder and muttered "Stay over here." As he walked towards the scene.

"No, no, no! Please, please!" Andrea stuttered out. Dixon slowly pulled away and spit a huge glob on T's chest and rubbing it in his shirt. I grimaced, grossed out by this scum bag.

"Alright how we have ourselves a little pow wow huh?! Talk about who's in charge. I vote me! Anybody else?! Show a hands! Huh! _All in favor_!" Dixon barked, standing now and raising his hand, urging the rest to as well.  
"Huh?! Come on! Let's see em!" He snapped. The Spanish guy raised his hand slowly. "Aw come on!" Andrea scoffed.  
"All in favor?!" Dixon asked again raising his gun at the group, pointing it at each one of them why they were huddled on the ground trying to help T. Each one of them slowly and nervously raised there hands.

"Yeaaa, that's good! Yea that means I'm the boss right? Now anybody else?Mmm anybody?" Dixon chuckled turning to see me. He grinned a sickening smile and took a few steps in my direction, not noticing Rick sneaking behind him the other way. "Mmm, what about you _blondie_? Your new here huh? Whatta ya say? Anyone else?" Dixon grinned and barked a laugh, winking at me.

"Yea" Rick said as he came right up behind him and hit him in the head with the butt of his gun. Dixon fell to the ground with a yell. Rick stood over Dixon now, pulling the cuffs he had on his belt out and latching them to Dixon's wrist and then the heating pipe next to his head. Rick then grabbed Dixon by the shirt and leaned over him.

"Who the hell are you?!" Dixon growled. "I'm officer friendly" Rick snapped back. Rick reached back and grabbed Dixon's hand gun off the ground and pulled the clip out. "Look here Merle. Things are different now. There are no Niggers anymore. No dumb as _shit_ inbred white trash fools either! Only dark meat and white meat. That's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, _not_ apart." Rick said angrily.

Dixon sneered at Rick. "Screw you man."  
Rick shook his head in disbelief and laughed under his breath. "I can see you have a habit of _missing the point_." Rick said. "Yea well screw you twice." Dixon muttered back.

Rick huffed and pulled the gun he had just reassembled and placed it at Dixon's temple. "You outta be polite to a man with a gun, it's only common sense." Rick hissed back through his teeth.

"You wouldn't your a cop." Dixon replied. Rick pulled the gun away from Dixon's head and looking him right in the eye. "All am anymore is man looking for his wife and son. Anybody gets in the way of that's gonna loose. I'll give you a moment to think about that." Rick looked at Dixon a moment longer before patting him down, checking for weapons and finding a small vial of cocaine in his vest pocket. Rick chuckled a little and flicked Dixon on the nose. "Got some on your nose there."  
"What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" Dixon said with a laugh as Rick stood and walked over to the edge of the roof and chucked the cocaine. "Hey! Dude what are you doing man that's my stuff! Hey! Aghh! If I get loose you better pray! You hear me you pig!" Dixon roared from his place chained to the roof as Rick walked away toward a where I stood on the other end of the roof, the Spanish man following him.  
"You here me?!" Dixon screamed. "Yea your voice carries." Rick said back, annoyed. I actually cracked a smile at him as he stood next to me now looking out over the city. He gripped his wrist and I frowned, knowing hitting some that thick skulled must have hurt.

The Spanish guy caught up to us. He looked at Rick and I for a moment and asked "Your not Atlanta PD. Where ya from?"  
"Up the road a ways." Rick answered and then nodded his head towards me "Brooke is from Boston." He finished for me. I think he could tell I was still too overwhelmed. Not that I really knew Rick any better than any of these people, I mean we did all just meet a few minutes ago really. But it felt like it. Both of us being new to this group of people and all.

The Spanish guy laughed a little and shook his head. "Well officer friendly, blondie." He said nodding to both of us. "Welcome to the big city." He stated looking out over street where hundreds of walkers roamed underneath us.

 **Thank you for reading this! I hope you liked it so far! I will try and update soon! Please review if you have any positive feed back or constructive cristiscm! -Sydney**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey all! Thank you guys so much for even reading my story! And thank you an extra bunch to those who reviewed! It made me want to pump out this chapter even quicker than I expected! I hope you like this chapter and review again! As always, I do not own the walking dead or any of the characters!**

 **Chapter 2:** Crooked Smiles

"God it's like times square down there." Andrea muttered looking out over the edge of the roof down at the street filled with walkers. My stomach clenched even thinking about getting close to those things.

"Hows the signal?" The spanish guy named Morales (which I'd just learned a few moments ago) asked T-dog. T shook his head from his place leaning against the roof ledge, jamming buttons on what looked like a radio or walkie talkie. "Like Dixon's, brain... _Weak_." He replied nodding his head toward Dixon who was still cuffed to the roof pipes. Dixon didn't do anything but raise his middle finger lamely at T-dog. Well, T was right, Dixon's brain is weak. Idiot.

"Keep trying." Rick urged the others, standing next to me and looking out over the city. Andrea scoffed and shook her head. "Why theres nothing they can do! Not a damn thing." She said, pushing off the edge and turning to walk away, clearly very frustrated. Not that I blame her really, but it's like she can be mad at Rick for trying anything he could to stay alive. Even if it was louder than fireworks on the fourth of July.

"I think she's right, we're on our own. We have to find our own way out." Rick told the rest of the group. "Good luck with that." Dixon chuckled.

"The streets aren't safe." Rick thought out loud. I could almost see the gears turning in his head as he tried to sort this out. I thought back to every action movie imaginable, trying to think of anything that could be plausible no matter how crazy. We all remained quite for a moment before a light bulb went off in my head. "But what about under the streets?" I said quietly to Rick. His eyes widened in realization and he snapped his head up to look me in the eye, his mouth pulling up on one side into a crooked smile. _Woah_ , well that was only mildly attractive. S _top it Brooke, he's married_. I scolded myself.

"Glenn...are there any man hole covers in the alley that you can see?" Rick called to Glenn who was the closest to the side of the roof the alley overlooked. Glenn seemed confused for a second and then he seemed to have the same kind of light bulb moment Rick and I had. He whipped around and looked anxiously over the edge.

His shoulders slumped after a moment. "No," He said turning back and walking towards us. "They must all be on the street where all the geeks are." He finished as he approached us.

"Maybe not, an old building like this...built in the 20s, big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding. Down in the sub basements." The black woman who I'd just learned was named Jacqui.

"How do you know that?" Glenn asked incredulously. "It's my job. _Was_. I worked in the city zoning office." Jacqui replied confidently. Rick turned around to look at all of us as and we all shrugged. Turning to exit the roof, leaving Dixon still cuffed to the pipe and T-dog still too hurt to move much on the roof.

We all made our way down the stairs to the basement level. The basement was almost completely dark if it weren't for some light escaping through the garage loading doors on the other side of the room. I stuck close behind Rick and Glenn, fearing being to far away from the people I'd known the longest, even if it was just by a few minutes. A few minutes meant a lot in this new world. I was shuffling along behind Rick when I accidentally stepped on the back of his boot, moving just a bit faster than he was. "Oh! I'm sorry." I practically squeaked, embarrassed. I could feel my face flush with blood as Rick turned back to look at me, good thing it was dark in here.

The light from the slits in the garage doors and the few flashlights our group carried was just enough for me to see him give me a small smile and nod of his head. "S ok." He chuckled a little. "Hey, your idea up there." Rick said quietly to me jerking his head upwards towards where just were on the roof. "It's great, good thinking." He finished.

I shifted from foot to foot, anxious and slightly embarrassed. "It was nothing, just something I remembered from countless actions movies." I whispered back with a small laugh. "I'd hold the praise until we're out of here though." I added sarcastically. Rick laughed a little and shook his head. "Good point." He whispered to me as we finally reached the edge of what looked like the entrance of the drainage tunnel Jacqui had mentioned.

All of us peered over the railing to the bottom of the ladder, not seeing anything to dangerous yet. But the idea of walking down there into the unknown was quite alarming. "This is it? You sure?" Morales questioned Glenn, who had lead us to this part of the building. Glenn nodded pointing his flashlight down the hole."I really scoped this place out the other times I was here, it's the only place in the building that goes down. But I've never gone down it." He answered with a visible gulp. "Who'd want to right?" Glenn asked, filling the awkward silence as we had all just stared down at the tunnel, everyone silently praying it wasn't them who would have to go down there. The rest of the group stared at him expectantly and he got the hint. "Oh great." He said lamely.

"We'll be right behind you." Andrea tried reassuring him. " _No_ , you won't! Not you." Glenn retorted. Andrea scoffed, seeming offended. "Why not me? You think I can't?" She asked.

"Well, its, its..." Glenn trailed off stuttering. Rick reached out and put a hand on Glenn's shoulder. "Speak your mind." Rick stated, encouraging Glenn that it was ok to have an opinion. This poor kid was clearly easily pushed around and walked on by others, even in a life and death situation.

Glenn heaved in a big breath before starting. "Look, until now I always came here by myself. In and out, grab a few things. No problem. First time I bring a group, everything goes to hell. No offense. If you want me to down the smelly hole, **_fine_**. But only if we do it my way. It's tight down there, if I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want ya jammed up being me getting me killed. I'll take one person. _Not_ you either." Glenn emphasized, touching Rick on the shoulder as Rick moved forward to volunteer. "You know how to use a gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if I knew you were out in the store by those doors, covering our ass. You've got the only other gun so you should stay with him." Glenn motioned towards Andrea. "You be my wing man, or woman or whatever." Glenn said pointing towards me. I blanched a little shocked and so did everyone else. "I've seen you run, your fast and small like me. We can get in and out together easily." Glenn explained making me and the rest of the group feel marginally better. "Jacqui and Morales stay here, something happens, yell down to us and get us back up here in a hurry." He instructed. "Ok" Everyone said in unison. "Everybody knows there jobs." Rick said patting Glenn on the shoulder and throwing me an encouraging look.

My throat suddenly felt dry. _These people risked their lives trying to save you, you have got to do something to help them, and yourself._ I told myself in my head a few times. Plus Glenn did have a point, I _was_ fast and small, which none of the others seemed to be. _I can do this._

Morales handed me a flash light, and I shifted around the the front of the group where Glenn was already descending the ladder, his own flashlight between his teeth.

I sucked in a huge breath before turning and stepping onto the first step on the ladder downward. My legs and hands shook as I held onto the hand rails and paused for a moment. Rick's hands suddenly covered mine and I looked up at him. "You can do this." He stated like it was fact. His eyes were so blue and genuine even in this dull light. I nodded before looking back down at my feet and continuing down.

When I reached the bottom Glenn was waiting for me. We gave each other a knowing nervous look and raised our flashlights to point them down the long tunnel. I glanced down at the two inches of murky water I was standing in. was momentarily grateful that I had brought my real leather riding boots to Atlanta, because any of the other shoes I owned would have soaked through by now.

I cringed at the sight of some rats scampering down the tunnel as we slowly crept forward. I almost laughed at myself for that. Of all the things I've seen within the past month or so and I was still skeeved out by some sewer rats.

Glenn and I came to the end of this section of tunnel and took a step down into an area with even more water and a large grate over the next section. "Thats definitely a sewer tunnel, Jacqui was right." I said quietly to Glenn as he put his hands on the bars of the sewer grate. "You think we can cut through it?" I asked Glenn. He sighed, "If we had a blow torch and half a day, sure. T's hack saw sure won't do it."

I lowered my flashlight to look for the source of a noise I heard from the other side of the grate. The light landed on a biter gnawing on a sewer rat, which it promptly dropped and lunged for us through the bars. Glenn and I flew back against the wall behind us gasping. My heart pounding in my chest as the dead guy snapped his teeth at us, spewing the blood from the rat everywhere.

"Let's go!" I hissed and we both turned and sprinted down the tunnel back up the ladder. We heard shattering glass and the moans and growling grew louder as we made it to the basement level again. Glenn and I exchanged a glance before we sprinted into the main area of the department store where Rick and Andrea had there guns raised. Morales and Jacqui already behind them. The walkers had gotten through the first set of doors and now were pushing and banging against the thin glass door separating us and them.

"What'd you find down there?" Rick asked hurriedly. Both Glenn and I shook our heads. "Not a way out." I answered breathlessly. "We need to find a way, _soon._ " Andrea replied, stating the awful obvious truth.

...

Rick was maybe just a little too good at thinking of ways to get out of hairy situations. He squatted down to the bottom shelf of the store room we ended up in and plucked a few sets of rubber gloves and lab coats and turned to hand them to Glenn. "If bad ideas were an olympic event, this one would take the gold." Glenn quipped shaking his head. Rick had come up with a lovely diversion plan of smearing dead walker guts all over ourselves to sneak around and grab a loading truck to escape in. It may be disgusting but it was also pure genius. There really is no other way anyway. Beggars can't be choosers and we were definitely begging to keep our lives.

"Alright man, hold up ok? Take some time to think this through." Morales tried to sway Rick. "How much time? We're running out." Rick replied matter of factly. I nodded in agreement while everyone else seemed unsure. "That glass won't hold forever." I added, completely siding with Rick. It might not be pretty but what other choice to be have?

No one else had any more to say so it was settled. Rick and the rest of us put on the gloves and lab coats and then Rick and Morales grabbed a completely dead walker, dragging it back into the store room from the alley. Rick put on what looked like a spray mask for painting and took the hatchet out of the emergency box on the wall. We all stood watching as he readied himself for what he had to do next.

He raised the hatchet and I turned not wanting to watch next but then no noise of impact came. I turned back surprised to see Rick with his mask off and hatchet on the ground looking at the wallet that was in the walkers pocket. "Wayne Dunlap. Georgia license, born 1979." Rick told us, reading off the ID in the wallet. He looked up to Glenn showing him the license. Glenn took it in his shaky hands looking very uneasy. "He had 28 dollars in his pocket when he died, and a picture of a pretty girl." He said flipping the picture over in his hands. "With love from Rachel. He used to be like us, worrying about bills or the rain or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family I'm gonna tell them about Wayne." Rick finished solemnly as he stood putting the mask back on and grabbing the hatchet.

"One more thing...He was an organ donor." Glenn added. A strange sense of rightness washed over me about the whole subject. This man had died, but at the very least he could potentially save the lives of others after he was gone. Just like he had wanted.

Rick closed his eyes for a moment and swung. The impact making a sickening noise. I couldn't help but groan. All of us moaning and groaning, stomachs churning at the sight before us. Morales took a turn next chopping us Wayne's remains.

"Everyone got on there gloves?" Rick asked and we all nodded hesitantly. "Make sure you don't get it on your skin or in your eyes." He said as he reached down and grabbed a handful of the guts and smeared it all over his front. I gagged for a moment before I could reach down myself. I closed my eyes mostly as I grabbed my own few handfuls and smeared the guts all over Ricks arms and back.

"Oh oh, my god this is so bad." Glenn moaned, voicing everyone else thoughts. "Think about something else, like, puppies and kittens." Rick suggested, cringing as he hung a piece of intestines around his neck. " _Dead_ puppies and kittens" T-dog mumbled. Glenn turned lurching to the side and threw up all over the ground. I fought the urge to cover my mouth from throwing up, remembering that I had guts all over my hands. "Do we smell like them?" Rick finally asked, obviously hoping this would just be over.

I almost laughed. " _Oh yea_!" Andrea and I both answered at the same time. "Glenn, just incase." Andrea said, placing her handgun in Glenn's belt. "When we get back you have to be ready." Rick told us.

"What about Merle Dixon?" T-dog asked as I wondered the same thing. Rick shook his head, not really bothering to respond. "Give me the axe." he said to Morales. "I need more guts." He grunted as he swung and chopped up more bits and pieces. I had to turn around at the point, worried I would puke like Glenn had. Thankfully it only took a few more moments before Rick was finished. They exited the store room and went out into the alley.

I gritted my teeth as I peeled off my gloves and discarded them on top of the walker body before we all turned and ran back down the hall way to the stairs up to the roof. Once we got there Merle started yelling. We mostly ignored him as we all looked over the edge of the roof to see where Rick and Glenn had gone. "Wait, that asshole is out on the street with these hand cuff keys?" Merle roared. T-dog smirked, pulling the key out of his pocket and waving it in front of Merle. I barely paid attention to the argument that ensued between them. I was more focused on the fact that thunder was rumbling in the approaching storm clouds above us.

"Can anybody out there hear me. Base camp, This is T-dog." T said into the radio for the 9 millionth time in the past 5 minutes. But this time he got an answer. "Could you repeat that. Over." A voice crackled back. "Shane is that you?! Were trapped in the department store! Theres geeks all over the place, tons of them. We're surrounded." He yelled back into the radio but all we heard back was crackling.

I tried not to be too upset about the lost radio connection, until the sky opened up and rain started pouring down on all of us. The rain slowly washing away the blood and guts smeared all over Rick and Glenn. Rick raised his hatchet and split the head of a walker just as the walkers noticed they were dead. Coming to the end of the road the both jumped the fence, shedding the lab coats and gloves and running to the loading van. Just as they backed away the walkers knocked over the fence, they peeled out and started speeding away down the road.

'They're leaving us! No, no, no. NO!" Andrea yelled, slamming her fists not the edge of the roof repeatedly. "No! They wouldn't, they'll come back!" I snapped back at her. And just sure enough, not a moment later, the rain stopped an the loading van screeched around the corner followed by a red dodge charger with racing stripes and a blaring car alarm.

"Theres roll up doors on the loading platform facing the street! Meet us there and be ready!" Glenn's voice barked over the radio T-Dog was holding. "Come on! Let's go, let's go!" Morales yelled rushing everyone to grab there things. "Hey! You can't leave me up here!" Merle cried out, yanking on his cuffs. None of us even noticed as we all rushed back through the door and down the stairs. I barely recognized the fact that T-Dog lagged behind, maybe helping Merle.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs we all burst through the back door by the loading dock and got ready to open the roll up door. We all listened closely as we heard the car alarm going off and getting closer and closer to the door. We heard the screeching of tires and Morales yanked up the roll up door just as Rick banged on the other side. We jumped in the back hurriedly, T-dog making it at the very last minute. I released a breath I didn't even know I was holding and moved to sit up in the front seat next to Rick.

"I dropped the damn key." T-dog said, answering the question we all were thinking but to afraid to ask. "Where's Glenn?" Andrea asked, not even bothering to worry about Merle stuck on the roof of that department store.

I looked to Rick who looked completely unworried, he was actually smiling a bit. "Well, he's _righttttt_...there." Rick answered at the perfect moment, just as Glenn flew past us in the charger with the blaring alarm. I was the only one to actually laugh. "Good for him!" I said, receiving a strange look from the others and a nice and oh so attractive crooked smile from Rick. _Stop it you, he's married remember._ Oh how could I ever forget. I thought to myself, knowing in that moment that I definitely had a little crush for Officer Friendly. A crush that I would just wholeheartedly have to ignore.

 **Thank you so much for reading! I hope you guys like where this is going, Brooke is a good dooby and would never go after a married man, doesn't mean she can help having her little crush though! Please review some more and I'll promise to update soon, please no flames! :)**


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